Once Upon a Time in Africa
by TraelBlazer93
Summary: Trying to stay faithful with the OUAT theme of delivering surprising plot twists and re-imagining beloved characters, this is a story that combines Tarzan, the Lion King, and even a little Arthurian Legend. What happens in the jungles and plains of Africa when all these characters are thrown together? Let's find out!
1. Chapter 1

**Once Upon a Time in Africa**

Chapter 1

Howls of terror echoed through the jungle, dripping down the vines into pools of steaming gorilla blood. Tarzan darted among the tops of the trees, jumping from limb to limb and using the occasional vine to propel him along. This was no normal shrieking. Though Terk commonly entered into squabbles with other females, this was different. She was in danger. Tarzan braced himself as he landed on the bough of a fig tree. He paused to get his bearings and listen. He could hear the gorilla whimpering and could smell blood. He must be cautious as he approached. Leopards had been seen in these parts and even the male gorillas could be troublesome. He had shown them all countless times that this was his territory but they didn't respect him and frequently challenged his authority. Terk had left the troop they were raised in a little while ago and had joined another. But she was having a hard time adjusting to the new social order. None of the other females were friendly to her and their silverback often scorned her advances. She often wandered dangerously away from the troop. Perhaps she believed Tarzan would be able to protect her from all the dangers in the jungle. She was naïve.

He had tried his best to unite the troops in his territory but none were interested. Often he had to break up fights over food or water sources. If it weren't for him, the gorillas would likely kill each other.

Tarzan knew he wasn't a gorilla. As far back as he could remember he knew he was different. Very little fur, limited mobility, and body and facial features, distinguished himself from them. Even though he was clearly the dominant male in the whole vicinity, he had not taken over as silverback of any troop. Though he had every right to, he had no desire to mate with the females. Most of them avoided him anyway. They saw him as a protector, a friend, and a leader, but nothing else. They knew he wasn't one of them. He smelled different, he looked different, and he was far more intelligent than any of them.

Tarzan slowly lowered himself to the jungle floor by a vine he had tied to the outstretched limb of a tree. He often went along with a coil of woven vines over his shoulder. But Terk wasn't on the floor. She was suspended high above the bushes in a cage. Not one of his own cages that he had learned to make out of rods of wood and vines. This one was gray and cold. It looked hard and unnatural. Terk was shaking with terror, her eyes wide, and her lips whimpering. She jumped up at the sight of him and grasped the smooth, perfectly rounded bars with her hands and hooted to him.

In a flash he leaped into action, darting up the tree she was suspended over, he grappled across the branches and dangled down next to the cage. Clicking his tongue and grunting gently, he assured her that she was safe. Pulling out Stone Fang from a strap on his waist, he maneuvered on top of the box shaped cell. The rope holding it was thick and had many cords of fine hairs all woven together. He began sawing at the rope. It was tougher than he thought but soon began to unravel as threads broke apart. His concern was that Terk would be injured from the fall in the heavy cage. They were at least two elephants up and she had already sustained an injury on her hand when it had grabbed her. He paused, unsure how to continue. Maybe he could break the cage open?

Terk began to whimper again and Tarzan barked at her to be quiet. He was afraid that she would attract carnivores. He didn't need to kill another Sabor. He also didn't want whatever made the trap to come back, likely hungry for whatever they had intended to catch. With Stone Fang in hand, he stabbed at the bars of the cage, warning Terk to stay back. It clanged and clattered. Sparks flew up but nothing happened. The material was just too strong. Tarzan crawled across the outside of the cage, looking for a week spot he might pry open. He found what looked like it might be an opening underneath the cage. Seams lined the edges while bulbous, rock-hard knots held it in place. He tried to make Terk understand that he wanted her to hold onto the bars but she didn't understand. His knife found a spot which seemed easy enough to break open and he prepared himself. Pulling from within himself that force that he called the Fury, he felt a surge of strength fill his limbs and pulse through his pounding heart. His teeth gritted and he yelled to the sky, releasing the power in his body. With one yank of his Stone Fang he loosened and broke the hinges that held the cage closed. It fell along with Terk. But he was quick. With a yank, he grabbed her arm as she fell. He clung on to her while maintaining his hold on the vine rope. She struggled against him, not understanding that he was saving her. The Fury coursed through his body but it would not last. He knew that soon his strength would fail and he would drop her. He barked at Terk to stop struggling. Finally she scrambled up his body and pulled herself up the vine and into the tree.

When they were both on the ground, Terk nuzzled Tarzan's face momentarily to thank him before hurrying off back into the jungle. Tarzan wasn't a novice at using the Fury, but it did have his limits, and he worried that whatever had come into the jungle and set up traps may be more than his strength can muster. But then again, it had never failed him before. With it he had broken the back of the leopard, Sabor. He had once stopped an elephant's charging by grasping its tusks and holding it back. The Fury had even allowed him to wrestle and defeat the largest gorilla of the jungle, Kerchak.

Looking back at the cage, hanging from the tree, Tarzan thought about what creatures could have done such a thing. He was the only one smart enough in the jungle to build anything like that. Gorillas could build nests and he had taught some of them to use simple tools to perform menial tasks, but he had never encountered anything as smart as him. From the look of this cage, whatever they were, they were smarter than him. What worried him is that they might be a danger to his troop, or to any of the troops in the area that he considered under his protection. He felt that none of the silverbacks alone were sufficient to protect their troops against so formidable an opponent.

Tarzan glared at the cage and felt the Fury bubbling, still hot in his veins. Forcing himself to relax, he climbed a nearby tree and, grabbing a few fruits for a needed snack, perched himself out of sight to wait for the creatures to come back for their broken cage.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun hung low and red in the sky and murder clung to the air like smog from a volcano. The bloody spear grasped in Simba's hand shook with his tremors. His uncle stood behind him, shock surrounding him like a thick cloud.

"What have you done?"

"I…I didn't mean to. He wasn't supposed to..." Simba couldn't speak. The words choked in his mouth and tears streamed down his eyes. "Dad!" The world spun around him and nothing made sense. Why was there so much blood? Why was his father out here alone in the hunting grounds.

"You killed him!" Taka was angry, clearly. He didn't seriously believe that Simba had murdered his own father, did he?

Simba turned. "I..."

Taka whipped his own spear at the prince's hand, disarming him.

Simba barely felt the burn on his hand. How could his uncle be blaming him? How could any of this happen? He couldn't see straight, but when the other hunters gathered around to see the dead king and Taka pointed at him accusingly, he knew he was in danger.

"No, I didn't see him!" He tried to explain how he had lost his spear in a throw, that he was trying to get the wildebeest, but the words would not come out right. Heat swelled inside him. Tension and hatred filled his lungs. He hated himself for what had happened. He hated his uncle for not believing him. He hated how they were all coming toward him with their spears. He knew he couldn't control himself much longer.

"Get him, he's about to change!" he heard his uncle shout.

Amazingly he dodged the spears flung his way and instantly he was on all fours, his maw a cave of fangs, a full main bursting around his head and running down his back. His claws splayed out before him as he sprinted away from them, a lion.

He had little control over himself in this state. Much of his vision was filled with red and he only felt a pulsing anger and desperation. Blood pounded in his ears and he tasted the flesh of the hunters. Pain sliced at his side from a well-aimed spear and he fled. 

Tarzan waited for hours, passing time by counting and identifying the birds. No matter how often he watched them, he always found new shapes and colors he had not seen before. The jungle was more alive with every passing day it seemed. Something was amiss in the jungle, something he felt in the air, light and dreamy, but somehow sinister.

Then he saw the creatures march through the underbrush, thrashing and hacking their way through the vines and bushes, clearing a path as they approached the cage lying on the floor. As they drew nearer Tarzan could make out their shapes and nearly fell out of the tree he sat on. They were like him! Instead of fur like the gorillas or other animals in the jungle, they were covered in skin just like him. Tarzan was fascinated by the clothing they wore. He himself was wearing some simple girth covering of Sabor's spotted hide wound around him with rope he had made. These creatures wore clothing all over their bodies and limbs. Their feet were covered and protected by thick soles, their clothing covered all the way down their legs and most of their arms. They even wore round objects that fit nicely on their heads and shaded their eyes.

Though Tarzan was amazed, he remembered caution. These creatures, though obviously his kin, were not good. Their eyes were hard and unkind, their feet stamped through the jungle without care, and they carried long sticks made from the same material as the cage. From the way they held them, Tarzan knew these objects held a deadly power. They gathered around the fallen cage and looked angry. They began yelling at each other and Tarzan expected a fight. But then another figure followed them from the jungle.

Slender and delicate, this creature commanded their attention by just calmly walking up to them. This was female, Tarzan knew immediately. Her scent was different, her frame. Her hair was long and golden while theirs was short and dark. Her eyes were quick and studious and she held herself like the alpha in the group. Tarzan immediately felt a yearning jump inside of him. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on.

The alpha male in the group pushed through the other males and said something close to her. He was a large figure with broad shoulders and black hair slicked back with some sort of oil. The other males showed reverence to him by looking up to him but then casting their eyes down in respect.

What he said to the female angered her and she spun towards him and scolded him harshly. Though he towered over her, she maintained a dominant air by keeping her chin level and her eyes locked on his. He stared at her a moment and then consented, backing away slightly. With a word from him, the other males separated, spreading out and hacking their way through the jungle.

Tarzan watched suspiciously. They couldn't see him from where he sat but he was concerned about their lack of restraint. They would likely chop every tree down if it meant finding whatever they were looking for. It was obvious they were searching for something at least. Each of them bent low to the ground, examining the dirt underfoot.

Tarzan watched them closely, keeping keen eyes on the female most of all. She was not like the males, he believed. Her eyes were soft and intelligent and studied the world around her with awe and appreciation for the beauty. Tarzan's eyes followed her closely as she searched the brambles nearby. Soon she was startled by a baby baboon which emerged from the brush, eating a mango. The infant seemed unconcerned by the alpha female of the pack and simply sat on its haunches munching on the fruit. The female studied the creature a moment, curious.

Tarzan began to worry for the female's safety. Surely she didn't know the danger even the little apes could pose. But this was a baboon infant and surely his troop was prowling nearby, and they were fiercely protective. The female studied the curious primate as it suckled at the juice on its fingers. Without hesitating she snatched a rod from one of the males nearby and pointed it at the infant. A sound like thunder shook the trees and the baboon dropped, blood pooling around underneath it. A male snatched the child up and stuffed it unceremoniously into a bag and the procession mobilized down the trail left by Terk.


End file.
